It is often necessary to combine multiple lanes of product into a single lane without allowing the product to accumulate and come into contact with each other. Heretofore mechanisms have been available for combining product lanes but all mechanisms involve the accumulation of the product at some point in the system. This is undesirable if the product is easily damaged or if for some other reason it is necessary to maintain the product intact and separate from other product.
The present invention provides apparatus wherein product may be received from multiple product lanes and is staggered for delivery to a merging conveyor. The staggered product is then delivered to a merging conveyor which merges the product into a single lane without product accumulation while maintaining the individual product items separate.